He didn't start the game and his whereabouts in the days leading up to it remain strictly hush-hush, but Paul Harris was here on Wednesday's stormy night doing what he could do to fend off the Providence College Friars.

Didn't work, unfortunately. Not in the wild Dunkin' Donuts Center where PC meant Particularly Commendable and the Friars looked like so many Jimmy Walkers and Ernie DiGregorios out there on the court, much to the delight of the ranting sellout crowd of 10,873.

But Harris, Syracuse's junior forward, did add to the Orange mix beyond his eight rebounds, six rebounds and three steals with his powers of observation.

"That was a 'must' win for us," he said after Providence had rambled past SU 100-94. "We've got to get it together."

Well, yeah. But what now? What happens after a team loses a "must"-win game? And, wait.

What does that make the next affair?

Paul pondered that one for a moment and then responded.

"Another 'must' win," he said. And then he shrugged.

It's getting a bit critical, friends. The Orange has lost four out of five to tumble from 16-1 to 17-5. Just as disconcerting, it began its scrum with the Friars without Andy Rautins (who was back home with a bum ankle), without Arinze Onuaku (whose right knee has rendered him non-jumpable at the moment) and without Harris (who was benched by Jim Boeheim without any meaningful public explanation).

Asked, as a result, if he was either concerned or hopeful, Boeheim chose Option C.

"I'm neither one," he said. "We'll be ready to play next Wednesday."

That would be in the Carrier Dome against the Mountaineers, who are 15-5 and rolling. The presumption is that Boeheim knows of what he speaks. And, too, that somebody waves the magic wand over his roster and cures that which ails his wounded athletes.

...

That submitted, we interrupt this offering for a side view:

That those in the Providence student section are allowed by all kinds of folks -- Father Brian Shanley, the school president; Robert Driscoll, the athletic director; and Keno Davis, the head coach, among others -- to shout, in unison, homophobic slurs at opposing players must cause those old Dominicans to shudder.

Coarseness is bad enough, and there is all manner of that back in the Dome. But stuff straight from a wall in a bus-station bathroom? Whatever it is that those PC people have stepped in, it ain't piety.

...

OK, back to the game -- which, the Orange's poor health aside -- had all of the proverbial makings.

Indeed, slumping SU badly needed a triumph to stabilize itself before embarking on that looming march through the Mountaineers, Wildcats, Huskies, Hoyas and Wildcats once more. The Friars, meanwhile, were looking for validation.

Sure, PC (13-6 overall) came in with a 5-2 Big East Conference record, but that had been largely built against the league's bunnies. As such, if the Friars could knock off Syracuse, wounded though it was, the result would be a big-time skin on the Providence wall.

So, this match had some juice to it ... and it delivered because it was an absolute thing of offensive beauty as each side shot better than 50 percent from the floor and went about its business the old-fashioned way. That is, with sneakered feet pushing pedals to the metal.

"Both teams, offensively, are very good," admitted Boeheim, an old scorer, himself. "We couldn't stop them and they couldn't stop us."

And in the end, it was dazzling. And, specifically, so was Jonny Flynn.

Now, at the risk of offending Flynn, who bristles when it is suggested that a low-scoring game by him equates to a poor game by him, he was stunning on an evening when he had to be. In fact, midway through the first half, a local writer leaned over along press row and declared to a visiting scribe, "You're lucky you get to watch that kid every night."

The sophomore guard went the distance, competed through each of his 40 minutes ... and, yeah, scored a game-high -- and a career-high -- 35 points. On an evening during which the Friars crafted brilliant basketball inside and out, Flynn was, unquestionably, the best player in the building.

"Jonny was terrific," proclaimed his pal, Harris. "He came out of the gate shooting. Coach kind of told him that we were going to have to be more aggressive offensively. And he definitely came out and was aggressive. Without a doubt, that was the best he's played. In his career at Syracuse, I would say yes to that. Without a doubt."

Flynn, who also chipped in six assists, was aided and abetted by Eric Devendorf, sore rib (and now, loose tooth) and all, who started in place of Rautins and dropped 27 points on the Friars. Thus did that duo make an oracle of Boeheim, who'd predicted before the game that Jonny and Eric would need to combine for 50-60 points if the Orange was going to have a chance to win.

They did that -- in fact, they exceeded that total -- and SU did very nearly eke out a victory.

Alas, the Orange didn't. And so, it lost its "must" win. Turns out, another one awaits.